Despite holding a Ministerial post, Salahuddin Ayub’s popularity in media is equally low as non-Minister Mukhriz
On May 21, 2018, Amanah’s Deputy President Salahuddin Ayub was elected Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry in Tun Mahathir’s cabinet.
According to the dependency chart above, Salahuddin’s news exposure increased after the elections in May 9, however after June, it is observed that his exposure begins to slow down and this continues throughout 2018 despite holding a ministerial post. He seems to share the same trend as non-Minister Muhkriz in the media in terms of news coverage. In comparison, Gobind Singh Deo (Minister of Communications and Multimedia) has a generally consistent presence in the media.
Whereas, Azmin Ali who is the Minister of Economic Affair is the most popular politician in the mainstream media even prior to the election. After the election, Azmin peaked in August with 1,836 news due to the PKR election.
And if we zoom into January 2019, the deputy President of PKR has always been high despite a fluctuating trend. Deputy Chairperson of DAP, Gobind Singh also has a consistent presence.
Could their strong presence in the media is due to them holding a Ministerial post in the Prime Minister’s cabinet?
Not necessarily because if we look at Salahuddin Ayub who is also a Minister, he has generally low presence; the same level as non-Minister Mukhriz.
Salahuddin’s current trend in the mainstream media shows that he does not have an influential presence in the media or that he is not as controversial of a politician compared to the others.
But, could it also mean that he is not giving anything to the media to update on despite holding the Ministerial post?